From Nobody to Somebody

Early this week there was a video I saw on one of the many blogs I read of a young British girl singing Nicki Minaj's "Super Bass" and she was incredible. I mean, seriously, I was blown away.  By the end of the day, this girl was a YouTube sensation. It's amazing how a video going viral can turn a nobody into a somebody so fast. Sometimes it is real talent, but sometimes its just pure stupidity that becomes entertainment. Regardless, most of these people end up making bank and/or gaining some sort of celebrity status from these videos.

The videos below are some of my all time favorite YouTube videos. If you haven't seen or heard of any of them, congrats, you apparently live in a bubble. I pity you.

1. Antoine Dodson: Bed Intruder. I first learned of Antoine from a gossip blog I read about celebs and ridiculous news.  They showed his interview from a local news station about a break-in and attempted rape in his apartment.  Although a serious matter, his interview was hilarious. It wasn't supposed to be humorous, but his tone and delivery just could not be ignored. I couldn't get enough of him from the get go and my brother and I watched the interview over and over again. We continued to quote him the rest of the night. What we didn't realize was that Antoine was going to become famous off his interview. We thought we stumbled upon some random news story. This was so not the case. Just the next day, his interview had over a million hits on YouTube and some guys from Brooklyn auto-tuned and remixed it turning it into a hit song. It soon became my ring tone for when my brother called.

2.  Rebecca Black: Friday. Also with the help auto-tune, Rebecca Black came on the scene very fast. Additionally, she was not recognized for her talent, but for the pure ridiculousness of her song AND her video. What is so funny about her video is that it was NOT meant to be a joke. At all. It was just that bad. But so bad, it was so good. And yes, not embarrassed to say this is also on my iPod. And I have been known to sing this to my students on Fridays.

3. Crazy Nastyass Honey Badger. If YouTube was available at my school, I would most definitely show this video to my students in my Ecology unit as an example for food chains. It is both educational and hilarious. If you haven't seen this one before, its pretty damn funny and the creator has many videos as well. 

4. Chinese Boys: I Want it That Way. This video came out like six years ago and I could not get enough of it. I loved this song, but it was really all the facial expressions and choreography of these guys as well as the random friend in the background just sitting there that really made me a fan. It made the rounds really fast but unfortch for them, this was still a time where the people in these videos didn't really become famous right away. Sorry guys. You won me over though!

5. Sophia Grace: Super Bass. The most current YouTube sensation. This little girl is not only adorable, but she impressed the hell out of me by knowing all the lyrics to this song in her adorable little British accent. Most recently she went on Ellen to perform and was surprised by Nicki Minaj herself. Very classy move Nicki. No wonder you are so popular and well-liked.

There are obviously hundreds, if not thousands of videos on YouTube that draw millions of viewers each day. There are some that are just plain dumb, some that are super funny, and there others that are full of actual talent.  If it makes its way in the right hands or the right person views it, a star can be born. Hmmmm....maybe I should post a video...